If I Ruled The World

Sunday, July 14, 2013

What is clear is that given the exact same set of facts with only the roles of the participants reversed, Travon Martin would today be sitting on death row. Arguably a better place than he finds himself in today.

The verdict is a travesty of justice and decency just as was the case with OJ.

One can only hope that as with OJ, the civil verdict will be different and that the police will keep a keen eye on Mr. Martin's future endeavors.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

The one sure way to beat the NRA Gun Lobby, reduce the amount of guns in our country, and get back on the road to sanity is to amend the US Constitution to clarify the ambiguities of the second amendment, and allow the federal government the express authority to strictly regulate the manufacture and sale of guns as well as under what circumstances a citizen might own one.Doing so would remove the smokescreen of constitutional interpretation that the NRA gun lobby and ultra right wing judges hide behind to perpetuate the lack of any effective regulation of guns in this country.Let's call this drive to amend the Second Amendment the Newtown Project and any subsequent amendment the Newtown Amendment in honor of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary.If you are a parent with children you want to protect, or if you feel that you and your family would be safer if the almost unlimited availability of guns, (especially military style semi automatic assault weapons and oversize magazines) and the right to carry them in public places, be it in the open or concealed, were restricted, then we urge you to write your elected officials everyday petitioning for a constitutional amendment that would change the second amendment, and help to ensure that there are no other Newtowns.Today we call on all like minded people throughout this country who are sick of the insanity and death brought down upon us by the likes of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA gun lobby to rise up and say collectively we have had enough!AMEND THIS AMERICA - WRITE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TODAY AND TELL THEM YOU SUPPORT THE NEWTOWN AMENDMENT.Only together can we bring this desperately needed change to our country.Only together, can we move this mountain.

Friday, December 14, 2012

There are just too many guns on our streets and in the hands of crazy
people.

I am confident that this is not what the founding fathers had in mind when they drew up the second amendment to The Constitution, no matter what the NRA says. It is time that the influence and power of the NRA in this country be dimmed and overcome once and for all. They hurt the country and parents all over it.

It is too easy to obtain a gun in this country. It needs to be made much, much harder, the NRA be damned! It is people with guns that kill people and we surely need fewer guns and fewer people with access to guns in this country.

The NRA and those Republican politicians (almost all of them, along with a smaller number of Democrats as well) who pander
and cow tow to them are to blame, as we experience mass shooting after mass
shooting, be it in a mall or a movie theater or a place of worship or a college
campus or now most tragically of all an elementary school where many of
the victims were just 6 years old.

Something needs to be done and WE THE PEOPLE must be the ones to do it. We can no longer afford business as
usual. If you agree, write your state legislator and your Congressman/woman today and keep writing them every single day until the gun control laws are changed in your state and nationally. For until they are, next time it could be your child or your wife or your husband who does not come home.

We need to break the grip of the NRA and institute sensible gun control laws in our country.
Thereafter, if guns can still be obtained illegally, we need to go after these
criminals with all the resources that we can bring to bear.

As we see week after week with each successive mass shooting, the NRA and the disproportionate influence they have over state legislatures and the US Congress is hurting this country and the people in it. Each death can be squarely laid at their door step and if we, the American people don't do anything about it, at ours as well.

No one in this country should be afraid to send their kids to school or to
take their family to the mall or to a movie.

Our gun laws are indefensible and untenable. They need to be changed and now is the time.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

There are more important things than just the next election and somebody should tell that to Grover Norquist and the right wing.

Debate is free, roads, bridges, mass transit, hospitals & health care, teachers and schools, firemen and their departments, police and military, and things like FEMA (so important to Long Island and the NY metro region at this time and to other regions at other times) and so many other things necessary to the country are however not.

The greatness of this country derives from its people in the form of a strong middle class and a working class who aspires to it. Yes those same people that Bill Clinton often referred to as those Americans who work hard and play by the rules. They are the backbone of this country, supported and nurtured by a strong public education system.

What is clear is that those people who have benefited the most from the greatness of America should be happy and proud to pay back their fair and progressively proportionate share of taxes into the system rather than seeking to shift those burdens onto those who can least afford it, which is just selfish and unpatriotic.

If you have made it in this country, great that's the American dream and it is what we all aspire to but you most certainly have not done it alone and you should be happy to do the patriotic thing and pay your taxes and give back in support of this great country.

The more you have benefited from the greatness of this country the more you should be willing to pay back otherwise you are just selfish and a drain on the country rather than an asset to it.

What is fundamental to America is the idea of E Pluribu Unum and that is what people like the Grover Norquist and the Koch Bros. and those of their ilk do not get. No one ever accomplished anything on their own in this country. We all did it together, helping one another in one way or another and we will need to continue to do so if this great country is to survive and flourish going forward.

Now is there waste in the system, sure there is. There is no reason for instance that American taxpayers should be subsidizing big oil to the tune of billions of dollars every year. And yes many other examples can be found and we can better control our expenses and debate our priorities but what is beyond debate is that a competent and adequately funded government is very much needed, Grover Norquist be damned!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Friday, October 26, 2012

During The Final Debate, Mitt Romney Lied To The American People About Many Things, Among Them Was His Position On The Auto Industry.

HERE ARE THE FACTS: What Romney recommended for the auto industry
did not happen. His proposed path would have forced General Motors
and Chrysler out of business. He opposed using government money to bail out the
automakers, instead favoring privately financed bankruptcy restructuring. But
the automakers were bleeding cash and were poor credit risks. The banking system
was in crisis. So private loans weren't available. Without government aid, both
companies would have gone under and their assets sold in
pieces.

Time after time, on issue after issue, to believe Mitt Romney is to do so at your own and the nation's peril.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

The question is why?Why do so many Americans vote for a party that is so obviously out to
hurt them?

How can anyone who is either middle or working class and not
part of the 1%, which is really the only segment of the population that
Republicans care about (as Mitt told you himself), ever vote Republican?

How any woman can ever vote for Romney/Ryan, who to this day
do not support equal pay for equal work and who want to turn back the calendar
on a century's worth of hard fought gains
in women's rights, is beyond reason.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Aren't you proud to live in a country that respects all of it's citizens and to have a leader who through example leads us to respect each other? Democracy should be about citizens choosing those who will lead us. All eligible citizens should be able to vote in this election, and those who would take away rights through reduced voting hours or onerous complex requirements are anti American.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

What is troubling is the direction of the so called "support" movement
spurred on by right wing politicians. Seemingly, it is not as much about supporting free speech as it is about supporting discrimination.

Equal protection under the law for all citizens means just that. It's in
the constitution same as the right wing's beloved second amendment is. You
either believe in The Constitution or not. Are we now choosing which parts of that document we
are willing to recognize and which parts are merely optional?

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Senate Republicans voted on Monday to block consideration of the Buffet Rule which would ensure that billionaires pay more in taxes than their secretaries and other average working class Americans.

A CNN poll released on the very same day showed that 72% of Americans support the measure, including 53% of Republicans. This, coming on the heels of a Gallop poll released last week which showed that 63% of independent voters are in favor of the Buffet Rule.

In the face of such broad bipartisan support among the American people, Republicans would not even allow the Senate to debate the rule let alone vote on it.

Clearly, congressional Republicans are out of touch with the American people including a majority of voters in their own party.

In November they will no longer be out of touch, they will just be out.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

One school shooting after another, it's endless. Yet, Republicans across this country keep passing laws that not only make it easier to get guns but to specifically require them to be permitted to be carried on school grounds including, in many instances, kindergartens and nursery schools. What is wrong with these people? What is wrong with the people who keep electing them?